Moves are the techniques Pokémon use to battle. Each Pokémon can remember up to four moves at a time, which they learn as they gain Experience points, by using Technical Machines, or through inheritance from their fathers. Each move has an associated type. In addition, any given attack move has a chance of becoming a critical hit and dealing double damage. Some moves do not cause any damage, only causing whatever their associated effect is.

Some moves can be used outside of battle to affect the game's overworld. For example, Surf allows the player to cross water on his or her Pokémon, and Cut removes small trees that block paths.

As of Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, moves can also be used in contests measuring aspects of the Pokémon unrelated to battle. Often, a move's battle effect is completely different from its contest effect.

Types of Pokémon moves

All moves have different power levels and odds of connecting. A lot of moves simply cause damage, but many also have an associated effect. These effects have their own odds of occurring, usually independent of the attack's accuracy and strength.

Statistic-affecting moves

A Pokémon has several different numerical statistics that measure its strengths and weaknesses in various areas. Some moves cause a raise in one or more statistic, usually to the Pokémon who used the move, making it temporarily stronger. Others can lower one or more statistic, usually to the Pokémon's opponent, making it temporarily weaker. These effects vanish after the battle ends, or when the affected Pokémon is switched out.

Status effect-causing moves

Some moves cause what are known as status effects.

Long-term status effects

Long-term status effects linger after the Pokémon battle ends. They are indicated with a three-letter abbreviation by the Pokémon's name, and a Pokémon can only have one status effect on it at a time.

Burn (BRN) burns the victim, taking away hit points at the end of each turn and causing a drastic Attack statistic reduction as well.
Faint (FNT) means that the Pokémon has lost a battle and cannot battle again until it is revived.
Freeze (FRZ) freezes the Pokémon, completely preventing it from attacking. Attacking a frozen Pokémon with a fire-type move will thaw it, and there are a few moves a frozen Pokémon can use to thaw itself.
Paralyze (PAR) gives the victim a 25% chance of not being able to attack and drastically reduces speed
Poison (PSN) poisons the Pokémon, taking away some of its hit points at the end of each turn independent of the other Pokémon's moves.
- Toxic or bad poisoning is a special Poison status effect. With this status effect, the hit points taken away double each turn.
Sleep (SLP) makes the victim fall asleep, leaving it unable to attack unless it knows the moves Sleep Talk or Snore.

Short-term status effects

Short-term status effects differ from the long-term ones in that they do not linger after battle, they can pile on top of each other, and a symbol does not appear by the Pokémon's name while it is affected.

Confusion gives the Pokémon a 50 percent chance of attacking itself instead of its opponent for a few turns.
Infatuation only affects Pokémon of the opposite gender than the attacker. There is one move with this effect: Attract. It causes the opponent to fall in love with the attacking Pokémon, giving it a fifty percent chance of refusing to attack its "lover" for a turn. This doesn't exist in Red, Blue or Yellow.
- Genderless Pokémon like Voltorb are unaffected by Attract, and Attract does not exist in the Red, Blue, or Yellow versions of Pokémon since Pokémon genders did not exist in those games.
Disable blocks the opponent's last used move for a few turns.
A Flinch makes the Pokémon skip one turn.

100 percent accuracy moves

Certain moves always connect, no matter what the Pokémon's accuracy is. An exception was made after Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow for Pokémon in the first phase of two-turn attack moves that let them escape all attacks. However, there are some moves that take one turn and cause the next move, no matter what it is, to always connect, even during the protected first phase of some two-turn attack moves. Also, some normal moves such as Sky Uppercut, learned by Pokémon such as Blaziken and Breloom, connect with moves such as Fly even during the protected first phase of that move.

Consecutive turn moves

In Red, Blue, and Yellow there were attacks that would incapacitate the opponent for two to five turns, sapping hit points all the while. These were toned down in later Pokémon role-playing games, and now they don't incapacitate the victim – instead, they prevent it from fleeing or being switched out. Other consecutive turn moves hit for at most five turns, causing increasing damage with each turn they connect. Similarly, the move Thunder will hit any flying enemy (and do double damage), as will Surf for enemies using Dive and Earthquake for enemies using Dig.

Consecutive hit moves

Some moves, instead of causing damage once per turn, cause it two to five times per turn.

First strike moves

Some moves always hit first in a turn, no matter what the two Pokémon's speed statistics are.

Fixed damage moves

Some moves can cause no more or less damage than their fixed damage number. For instance, the move Sonic Boom always causes exactly twenty hit points worth of damage.

One-hit knockout moves

Certain moves can knock out the opponent in a single hit. These moves are very inaccurate, and can only hit Pokémon at a lower level than the attacker. Other moves, while not always causing an instant knockout when they connect, always knock out the Pokémon who used the attack.

Protection moves

Some moves reduce the damage the user receives, or reduce the chance of a negative statistical change or status effect taking place.

Randomizer moves

Moves such as Metronome and Assist cause a Pokémon to use any one of the hundreds of moves in the game. This is not considered a good strategy because it requires good luck to perform a useful move instead of, say, Pay Day or Splash. Other moves pick from the Pokémon's other three known moves.

Recovery moves

Some moves simply heal the Pokémon who uses it. Some of these are dependant on the time of day and/or the weather. One move, Rest, cures all status effects and heals all hit points in exchange for putting the Pokémon to sleep for three turns. Some other moves affect the entire Pokémon team, curing status effects. Damaging recovery moves are a subtype of recovery moves. They damage the attacked Pokémon and restore some of the attacker's hit points.

Recoil-causing moves

Some moves damage the Pokémon that used it as well as the attacked Pokémon. This includes the move used when no others can be used, Struggle. A less notorious but strong recoil move, Double-Edge, is learned by many Pokémon with the Rock Head ability like Onix.

Retaliation moves

Some moves store up energy from an attack, then hit the attacker for double the damage caused. Some of these only last one turn, while others accumulate damage over two or three turns.

Stealing or copying moves

Certain moves allow the user to steal or copy certain aspects such as moves, type, or items from its opponent.

Switching-related moves

Some moves cause the attacked Pokémon to run away, or, in the case of Trainer battles, to force its Trainer to switch it with a random Pokémon. This is known as "switching out" the Pokémon. One move, Baton Pass, allows the Pokémon to be switched without losing any beneficial statistic changes. Other moves prevent fleeing or switching out.

Two-turn moves

Some moves take two turns to use – one turn to prepare, a second to attack. Some of these moves let the user get out of range of most moves during one turn, then attack on the second turn.

Weather moves

Some moves affect the weather in the battlefield, causing various related statistical and type advantages and disadvantages for five consecutive turns.

Miscellaneous

Many Pokémon moves have unique aspects that are not any of the above mentioned types, such as Pay Day, which produces money when it is used, False Swipe, which always leaves the opponent with at least one hit point, and Splash, which doesn't do anything at all.